On this first edition of the podcast for 2019, we lead off with a sort of “mission statement” on aims, objectives, and subjects we hope to address in the coming year, before shifting our attention to a different kind of mission: one that took a Chinese lunar probe to the far side of the moon, in a historic landing on our planet’s natural satellite. However, this isn’t all that China has been working on… is the United States, and other world superpowers, falling behind in the new Space Race? Also, photographs posted online by a defense blogger appear to show a special electromagnetic railgun positioned aboard a Chinese navy ship… we consider some of the implications of these technological leaps being made in the East.

Then after catching up on a few holiday emails from our listeners, we turn our attention to ancient mysteries, and the influence books about “lost civilizations” have had on our culture. We take a look at a new program on Travel Channel starring actress Megan Fox, which purports to look at ancient mysteries; however, in the tradition of “archaeology made for television,” there are a lot of problems with the program… despite how it features a few very respectable scientists. People in the archaeological community chime in with varied opinions about whether it’s a good idea to appear on such shows, and what the pitfalls may be… but what’s truly surprising is seeing how many archaeologists actually got their start by reading pseudo-archaeological books on lost civilizations and space visitors, only to later take a career path toward debunking these things.

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